My rating: 5 of 5 stars
"Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul."
----Jim Valvano, an American college basketball player, coach, and broadcaster
Kary Rader, an American author, pens a heart-wrenching and tear-jerking story called, A Taylor-Made Life which is a sad love story between two cancer patients and how they cope with their terminal illness, life and relationships.
PS: Please keep a box of tissue in hand before reading this book.
Synopsis:
They lived the life they were given; they loved the life they made.
Cheerleader Taylor Smith doesn’t want to die a virgin. Unfortunately, if the terminally-ill leukemia patient doesn't find a lover or a stem-cell match within months, her fear will become reality. When her cancer mentor is revealed to be a hottie entrepreneur from California, it seems fate might finally be on her side.
Tech-geek Gavin Taylor has everything he ever wanted, except someone to grieve for him when he's gone. With his melanoma cancer beyond the help of his riches, he agrees to participate in a cancer patient mentoring program where he's matched with a dying teen from Texas. Despite his immediate attraction, the Silicon Valley whiz intends only to provide friendship and happy memories to the beautiful, young woman who is determined to win his love.
When it's discovered that his frozen sperm and her harvested eggs could lead to a cure, Taylor's mother offers to be a surrogate. And Gavin must decide if he can risk the heart he has never given and a child he'll never know to a girl he just met.
This story somehow reminded me of April's story from Chasing Life TV series, of how she froze her eggs or how she tried to get a bone-marrow transplant. Anyways moving on to the book, I must say that I never read anything so emotional where without playing the cancer card, the author made us sympathize with the characters.
Taylor is a 17year old teenager, a former cheerleader and currently leading her sad and lonely cancer-stricken life with not much fun or love. She fears that she will die a virgin, so as a result she joins a cancer mentor program where her mentor happens to be one of the most eligible bachelor- Gavin- a 25year old techie, filthy rich from his software empire, who only dates famous celebs and currently leading his cancer-stricken life. He fears that he will die without sharing his heart with a woman who will only love him not his legacy or money. As a result he joins a cancer mentoring program without much interest where he happens to be a mentor of a 17year old girl. On the other hand, Taylor has googled everything about this hot techie and she will do everything to get closer to Gavin's heart, no matter what!
What I instantly loved about this book is that from the very beginning the author didn't turn this cancer story into something pitiful or didn't try to make us feel sorry for the characters because of their cancer. The story is laced with sadness and with a lots of fun moments like when Taylor flirted with Gavin and how Gavin used to took her every single as a kid who is happy to be around him. From the very beginning, the characters tried to move on with their short-span lives by aiming for happiness instead of feeling sorry for themselves. Taylor's determination to get laid before dying and Gavin's hope to find someone who will share love unconditionally. This aspect of trying to find happiness and fighting against all the odds is really brilliant and the author have layered each and every narration with great empathy.
The writing is articulate thus arrested my mind from the very first page. The prose is fast enough and since the author have carefully entwined the plot with humor and sadness, I was engaged till it's very end. The story simply left me heart-broken and mesmerized with the charm of this relationship between Taylor and Gavin. The relationship between Taylor and Gavin moves at a very slow pace, mainly due to Gavin's impression of Taylor being a little girl and he couldn't accept her proposals since he was way too older than her. And that's what kept me glued to the story- the possibility of a relationship within such a short time-span.
The characters draw enough realism from our real lives, like Taylor and Gavin, whom we can meet and see in our every day lives. The author embodies the voice of an17 year old teenage girl, by aptly portraying her fears, excitement when she found out about Gavin as her mentor, her teenage spunk, charm and wit and also her mannerism. Gavin on the other hand, might strike you as a closed book with all the windows of his heart shut as tightly as possible. Moreover, Gavin is featured as the mature guy with all the hot looks, in short, sexy, brooding guy! But when their common interest about a computer game- CROG, brings them together, Gavin opens up, and I eventually feel for his character.
It seems the author have poured her heart into this beautiful love-story which is sad yet very inspiring. Moreover, the author lets us contemplate with the story by portraying the emotions so vividly.
Verdict: Don't miss out this painful yet captivating book, which will uplift your heart with the warmth and with a few drops of tears.
Courtesy: I received a copy of this book for the blog tour.
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Author Info:
I wasn't someone who was too big a fan of The Fault in Our Stars, and this one seems like it has a similar idea. Maybe I will be comparing them too much, but I might end up liking it more as well.
ReplyDeleteThis book is nowhere closer to TFIOS, instead it's far better than that book! Thanks for stopping by :-)
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